


Nocturne of a Fallen Angel

by Koroshimasu



Series: Nocturne of a Fallen Angel [1]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Attraction, Cannon Divergence, Enemies to Lovers, Gay Sex, Hate to Love, Loss of Innocence, Love/Hate, M/M, Mentor/Protégé, Opposites Attract, Sad Ending, Series, Sexual Tension, Slow Burn, Tutoring, love and war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:01:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28228818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koroshimasu/pseuds/Koroshimasu
Summary: Sephiroth mentors and trains Cloud Strife from infancy to his teenager years. Watching the youth grow, Sephiroth realizes his own conflicting feelings are also rapidly shifting.
Relationships: Sephiroth/Cloud Strife
Series: Nocturne of a Fallen Angel [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2067885
Comments: 12
Kudos: 40





	Nocturne of a Fallen Angel

**Nocturne of a Fallen Angel**

**Year 12**

He’d never thought he would be a suitable teacher, but they’d asked him to play the role when the newest recruit in the Shinra Electric Power Company had been admitted as a young infantryman.

A low-level rank, indeed, but one everyone had to start out in. Unless someone was born into the Company, they all had to start out the same way. He wasn’t surprised by this, but the surprise landed in his lap when he’d been informed of the fact that the newest recruit was only a child.

Specifically, the child he’d be in charge of looking after and training was just shy of two years old.

Sephiroth was only handed a small file on the toddler, with a baby photo attached, as well as information on his parents. Though he had many questions burning away in his mind, he could never voice them. It wasn’t his job to do so; he was only a SOLDIER, and now, he was responsible for training another individual new to the Company.

It was years ahead of time…how could it be? He’d opened his ears for a trace of some way to understand, but he’d only been rewarded with more questions and confusion. It seemed as though this ‘Cloud Strife’ was a special case. Even his name was special…Cloud…it was one Sephiroth would remember for a long time.

The twelve-year-old first left on a mission to Nibelheim in the spring, wrongly assuming at first that he was to travel there for the purposes of tracking thieves and terrorist groups. Though still young, Sephiroth was already surpassing the skills and levels of all the first-class SOLDIERs. He was already considered an ‘elite’, which would’ve made him a suitable candidate for tracking down difficult enemies.

However, he was young, impressionable, and quite wrong in all his assertions. He hadn’t been sent to Nibelheim to track any foes; he’d been sent there strictly to observe little Cloud Strife and report back.

The child was now four years of age, and ever so bubbly. Sephiroth introduced himself to the child’s mother and father, who stayed out of his way, mostly out of fear over repercussions rather than respect and reverence. For hours, Sephiroth only stood in the corner of the nursery, disgusted as he watched Cloud sleeping, drinking milk, talking baby-babble and nonsensical words, and then sleep some more.

What a damn waste of time.

Infuriated as he was, there was nothing he could do in the way of options. He’d made a good name for himself and a decent reputation, and as the forever obedible SOLDIER, he carried through with every order delivered to himself.

For many months, that was all he was strictly told to do; watch the child.

Supposedly, he was now Cloud’s babysitter, which sent him into a frenzy one afternoon when Angeal gave him heck for it. Lashing out hadn’t been wise; they’d both been disciplined, severely, with Sephiroth being tossed and locked away in solitary confinement.

As always, though he was a favorite, the Company couldn’t afford to take any risks. An obedient SOLDIER never turned on his own men and warriors, which was the first rule he’d broken, and also learned never to break again.

**Year 15**

Anyone else he knew of spent their fifteenth year within the Company walls, but a special order and interesting instructions had been delivered onto Sephiroth’s plate.

Hitting puberty had been a most painful ordeal for the now top member of the ‘Silver Elite’. The little, niche group consisted of Angeal Hewley, Genesis Rhapsodos, and Sephiroth, himself. Sephiroth had been promoted to the status of General, making him the youngest Shinra Electric Power Company SOLDIER to ever have obtained such a position.

Though satisfied with his combat skills and swordsmanship, the Shinra scientists experimented constantly on Sephiroth. The warrior had reached the age where rationality and reasoning deduced that his ‘doctor visits’ weren’t really just checkups for his own health; they were always after something beyond the farce.

His DNA had been studied and collected for years, especially when his body was rapidly undergoing major growth and hormonal shifting. Painful as it all was, he still was required to do his job, which now entailed heading to Nibelheim to collect Cloud Strife.

Livid, Sephiroth couldn’t understand why. The boy was only in his eleventh year, yet he was to cohabit with everyone else who’d worked harder than anything to get here and to earn their keep?

He was a special case, they’d always said, pounding and hammering it into his brain as he finally stood in the exercise courtyard with Cloud, ready to deliver his first dueling lesson. Sephiroth would never forget it, either.

Freckled face pointing up at the sky, Cloud was hardly able to listen to anything. Any words of tutelage Sephiroth spoke went over the child’s ears, much to the older teenager’s dismay. Handing Cloud a sword would no doubt be foolish, and thankfully, the Company assented. Cloud only held a wooden katana, and as Sephiroth droned on and on about battle stance, posture, blocking, parrying, and effectively using his charged attacks while preserving energy for killing blows, he knew it was all pointless.

Cloud was too busy pointing and laughing at a butterfly flapping above his head, far too innocent for his own good.

Ridiculous.

Sephiroth felt he’d been wasting his time, but with another security officer pacing around the perimeter, there wasn’t much he could do to punish the small child. Though he’d wanted to grab his shoulders, give him a good shaking, and shout his demand for Cloud to listen, he composed himself as he tried snapping his fingers in front of the child’s face.

Playful to the end, Cloud only leapt, and as he did, the butterfly landed right on the tip of his nose. The small creature seemed to be drawn to the young boy like something out of a fantasy novel. Cloud gaped in awe, dropping his wooden mockery of a sword for practice, and for the rest of the day, he insisted upon playing with the butterfly.

Blood boiling, Sephiroth swatted the creature, which in turn made Cloud weep profusely. No doubt, the guard would see them, and he’d be reprimanded, again. He couldn’t afford that, so he wisely produced magic materia he’d been hiding in his back pocket, hushing Cloud as he began using the materia orb to produce a warm glow of light.

That did the trick, surprisingly. Cloud was mesmerized, and his eyes traced and followed the orb as Sephiroth caused it to levitate, brilliant beams of light streaming from the center of it as it churned around as though placed on its own orbit.

The mesmeric show was enough for the young child to clap and want more, much to Sephiroth’s chagrin. Yes, he’d wanted the playful child’s attention, but now, there was an added pressure to perform more magic tricks.

Unbecoming of someone like Sephiroth, but he bent to Cloud’s will, orchestrating a series of magic for pure entertainment value. As he got lost in his own performance, something Sephiroth had never been prepared for happened right before his very own eyes.

Giggling and clapping fondly, Cloud then reached out with both arms, standing on his toes as high as he could go. Thinking that he’d been meaning to touch the materia, Sephiroth gently nudged it down into Cloud’s wriggling fingertips. As soon as the sphere made contact with his flesh, however, the innocent young boy shook his head as he pushed it aside.

Shocked, Sephiroth knew not what else the careless Cloud Strife wanted, but he wasn’t to remain in the realm of mystery for long. Cloud swiftly latched onto Sephiroth’s wrists, using both his smaller hands to tug Sephiroth’s longer, larger ones right before his face.

Eyes wider than small saucers, Cloud’s lips pursed into an ‘o’ shape as he hummed and cooed, studying Sephiroth’s hands. Turning them over as he grazed the knuckles with his fingertips, the young lad was stuck in his own curious fixation, acting as though he’d never seen another hand, before.

Peering down at their hands, Sephiroth noted the contrast in their skin tone. Cloud’s was a shade darker, leaning more on the side of tanned, while his own were so pale. Sickly, perhaps, but he cursed the Company for hardly allowing him much time out in the yards. All the missions he’d been through were in Modeoheim, as of late, a town dark, cold, and hidden from warmth Costa del Sol would provide.

Genesis and Angeal were allowed to travel to Costa del Sol…why wasn’t he permitted to go with them, then?

Spitefully, though not aiming it at Cloud in any way, as he ruminated over it, Sephiroth tugged his hands out of Cloud’s, then pointed at the younger child’s wooden katana.

Sniffling, Cloud nodded, bending to pick it up as he obediently and silently listened to Sephiroth’s instructions almost word for word. For the rest of the afternoon, Cloud listened well to Sephiroth, showing off just how and why he’d been selected for early recruitment into the Company.

The boy was indeed talented, athletic, even in his young age, swift, spry, and quite tenacious. He mimicked Sephiroth almost step-by-step, following in his legwork, his rhythm, and his swaying as he almost did a fantastic job blocking three attacks.

This progress was surreal and quite mystical. The child had simply gone from behaving errantly and disobediently, to being one of the best students Sephiroth had seen in a long time.

Whatever had caused this perhaps had come out of the blue and without reason, but Sephiroth suspected that when they’d linked hands, a sort of bond perhaps had been established.

**Year 17**

Entering his teenage years just as Sephiroth was one the way out of his own, Cloud proved to be developing into quite the moody menace. The Company already had to deal with its own fair share of issues, and with Cloud’s insane antics every other week stacking on top of it all, soon, Heidegger was clueless in terms of how to deal with Cloud.

The teenager couldn’t sit still for even a second. His energy was never-ending. He always had to find something to destroy, tinker with, or use for the purposes of causing trouble. Poking his nose into everything, Cloud hardly ever listened to anyone else, save for Sephiroth. The only time anyone ever observed a trace of respect from the young teenager was whenever Sephiroth’s word hit Cloud’s ears.

Sephiroth was reaching that age where his patience was limited, as well. Now serving as the strongest General within the Company, he had a list of his own responsibilities to attend to, and he knew he could do without the annoying, bratty Cloud Strife getting sent to his chambers every so often when guards and security officers had no clue how to react to Cloud’s behavior.

Why was he even doing the things he normally got caught up in? Sephiroth had posed the question numerous times, and for every single time he’d asked, Cloud would only stare at him blankly, tongue caught in his trap of self-imposed silence.

They still trained, together, though Sephiroth had to cut down on it all since he’d been called to conduct some time in the icy hills and mountains of Modeoheim. Every SOLDIER had to go through half a year’s worth of serious training in a segregated place, and it was just his luck that he’d been cast away in snow that never ceased falling in the city of Modeoheim.

Sephiroth had been taken under the wing of one of Shinra’s most infamously known assassins, a man whose name never was spoken of. He’d been banished to the dead, icy mass only when he’d refused to back down when the Shinra Army had infiltrated Wutai Village to rid the lands of the Wutai warriors. The stubborn assassin had personally been responsible for slaughtering the wife of the village’s leader, thus starting the terrible blood feud in the first place.

As such, though he’d been banished, he served as an excellent tutor, especially when Shinra members knew they were running out of their own trainers and teachers for Sephiroth. The teenager was much too advanced, and he’d been consistently overpowering his mentors, leaving himself feeling bored and without a challenge.

Of course, he did indeed receive quite a challenge as he spent his training time with the assassin. The weeks and months, though difficult, initially, soon bled together as Sephiroth grew in strength, wisdom, speed, and skill.

When he returned to his chambers, he’d been informed that it was his turn to carry on with his nightly duties. Monitoring the halls, scouring everywhere for infantrymen out of bed, wandering about, Sephiroth spent a full hour merely thinking. He’d been reunited with Angeal and Genesis, pleasantly so, but a part of himself had also been awakened to something surreal and new.

His sexuality and interests were only budding, though they niggled and ate away at his brain, he knew he couldn’t keep them at bay, forever. Sephiroth knew himself, and since he’d been stuck with only men to gaze at, he knew that the body of a man had always aroused himself. Though he hadn’t ever had the opportunity to deeply explore carnal sins with another man, the few times in his younger, teenage years when he’d shared a couple of chaste, innocent kisses with Angeal Hewley informed himself of his proclivities and preferences years ago.

Love never visited Sephiroth, and he wasn’t going to bother searching for it now, however. Love had always betrayed him, and it came along with pain attached to it. He knew so when his love for Jenova, his mother, had turned out to be a farce, seeing as she’d died when having him. Love had also hurt him when Angeal grew to fall in love with Genesis, leaving Sephiroth in their childish memories and withering past, long forgotten.

To hell with love. It was such a damn waste of time and energy.

In a particularly foul mood now that he’d pondered it to the ends of the earth, Sephiroth had ended his rounds, turning a corner to head for his own rooms, when he abruptly slammed into someone else. Whoever it was went sailing to the floor, while Sephiroth gaped cluelessly.

Cloud Strife…Cloud Strife was wandering out of bed, running down the halls while cackling like an idiot. At least, he had been. Surprised, though not entirely so either, Sephiroth demanded furiously to know what Cloud had been doing out of bed at such a late hour.

Their tempers clashed, badly. Cloud was in a mood upon being disciplined, and he only reproached and rebuked Sephiroth, challenging and questioning his authority. To top it all off, Sephiroth discovered that Cloud had been drinking. However the young teenager had snuck liquor into the Company was unheard of and quite the illustrious mystery, indeed.

Sephiroth had wanted to report him for his lack of wit, when Cloud grabbed onto his wrist, begging and pleading for another chance.

Somehow, they’d ended up back in Sephiroth’s quarters, where Cloud happily shared the rest of his bottle of alcohol with Sephiroth. The older teenager hadn’t ever had a drop of alcohol introduced to his system, before. He quickly learned that Cloud was quite the persuasive one, and soon, Sephiroth had downed the rest of the beverage.

It burned as it all went down, and he’d tried vomiting it back up. Only when Cloud mocked him did he strongly swallow the rest of it down his throat, feeling lightheaded and tipsy as he shielded himself from his junior, though initially. Alcohol eased his inhibitions, and it made him loose lipped and overly sentimental.

A maudlin version of Sephiroth laughed along with Cloud, suddenly finding humor in all the younger male’s jokes without even trying. He’d never laughed at such silly things, before, but now, his sides ached, and tears streamed down his cheeks as he got lost in his hearty guffaws.

Sloppily, Sephiroth succumbed to a deep sleep, crashing on the floor with his back against the edge of the bed. Cloud nestled next to him, leaning his head on Sephiroth’s right shoulder while he began softly breathing as he too traveled the world of his own dreams.

Together, they’d fallen asleep, and when Sephiroth woke in the middle of the night to carry Cloud back to his own rooms, before they were caught, he discovered a horrific scene he knew would haunt himself for months.

Rather than waking in the same position he’d fallen asleep in, Sephiroth saw himself lying on his side, with Cloud in front of his form. They were cuddling and spooning on the cold, bare floor, and it was both comfortable, yet oddly disturbing.

There wasn’t any room for Sephiroth to move in, not with Cloud’s back wedging the older teenager against the bed.

He’d tried to worm his way out of there, but as Sephiroth focused on escaping, Cloud turned around, looping his arms about Sephiroth’s form, dragging their bodies unnecessarily closely together.

It was nothing short of horrific, wrong, and degrading, yet Sephiroth never made further attempts to move. How could he, when Cloud was so close?

From this vantage point, Sephiroth noticed that Cloud’s freckles were ebbing into his skin, the tan almost completely faded away. The younger male’s golden hair was becoming a richer shade than ever before, and though Cloud fashioned it in an odd, crazy mess, it suited him well when he was asleep.

His bangs flopped over his forehead, his nose twitched, his eyelids fluttered, and he nestled against Sephiroth even closer. Tightly squeezing himself into the older male, no doubt seeking warmth, Cloud’s nostrils flared for a second before he visibly calmed down and ceased trembling.

Awkwardly, Sephiroth forced himself to keep his arms pressed into his chest. Eyes wandering over Cloud’s sleeping visage, he noted how in the moonlight, Cloud once again looked so young…so fragile…so peaceful. His nose scrunched up for a moment, but he then eased his facial muscles, relaxing them as he muttered something under his breath.

Unbeknownst to himself, Sephiroth was finding it increasingly difficult not to reach out and touch Cloud. He wanted to more than anything else in the world, especially when he dipped his head forward and caught the lovely aroma rising off Cloud.

A hint of mint, peppermint from the gardens, precisely. That counted as a natural odor, but there were traces of the baked cookies and alcohol he’d no doubt snuck out of the kitchens and pantry.

He smelled divine, and Sephiroth couldn’t prevent himself from leaning forth and tucking his nose between a few of Cloud’s thick strands of hair. Inhaling a few times had been his undoing; Sephiroth unfurled his arms from his own person, stiffly reaching ahead and draping his long limbs over Cloud’s back.

As soon as he’d done so, Cloud moaned as he shoved his face in the crook of Sephiroth’s neck.

The teenager was absolutely stunning as he smiled lightly in his sleep, occasionally whispered something out, and cooed. In a few short years, the small brat Sephiroth had despised and been so short with had grown into a charming young man, and he still had more room for development along the way.

When a door creaked down the hall, suddenly, Sephiroth snapped out of his little dream, yanking his hands off Cloud as though the youth’s body was covered in flames.

What had he even been doing?! What if they’d been discovered?!

Cursing himself for his naivety, Sephiroth rolled away from Cloud, purposefully making enough noise to rouse Cloud from his sleep. Now, rather than facing the quizzical youth, Sephiroth only ordered Cloud gruffly to leave his rooms and to never return, again.

**Year 19**

Winter died away to Spring, and Spring very quickly bled into Summer. The days were now longer, the weather inviting, and the blossoming flowers and vegetation sending those who were fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of it into a pleasant mood.

Sephiroth wasn’t so lucky to consider himself on that side, miserably so. Since the time he’d spent cuddling and sleeping with Cloud, Sephiroth hadn’t been able to control his vain imaginings and perverse thoughts. As he grew older, and as he came to learn more about his own body, he knew what he desired for, and it haunted him for many sleepless nights.

After tossing and turning in agony for nearly a full year, Sephiroth was at the mercy of his own perverted, wanton, lustful yearnings as he came to the full realization that he wanted Cloud. He was nothing short of a foul, rancid beast. How could he find some sexual pull to the young man he’d known since birth, practically?

Sephiroth had been with the infantryman since he’d seen his photo as a mere bundle of wrapped sheets, recently delivered from the maternity wards in his mother’s warm arms. He’d seen Cloud crawling in diapers, crying as he drank milk, he’d seen him being rocked in his cradle, he’d seen him dancing and playing in the rain, and he’d seen every step he’d taken until he’d known how to fend for himself.

And he still wanted him…gods be damned, Sephiroth still dreamed of taking Cloud in his arms, holding steadfastly onto him as he buried his nose in his hair, caressed his flesh, kissed his forehead, and looked longingly into his eyes.

Damn him. Curse him. To hell with him.

With anger boiling in his veins close to volcanic levels, Sephiroth chose to sequester himself in one of the Shinra Company training rooms. He’d simulated an environment for himself that consisted of a maze filled to the ends with monsters and deadly creatures. Not much of a challenge, but he needed something to hack and slash away at, just to appease his anger.

It never helped, of course; it only served to make himself increasingly angrier as he used his stamina in the wrong way. Long hair whipping and whirling about his head as he ravenously attacked and chopped them all down into nothingness, Sephiroth soon reached the end of his battlefield, running out of things to slaughter.

No…he’d never wanted this…if it ended, then he’d have to return to the real world, to face the real demons that lurked within his evil mind.

Unable to cope, Sephiroth had wanted to shut down the settings to head for a cold shower, when he suddenly noticed that Cloud had been watching him the entire time. The sneaky teenager had somehow observed him all this time without Sephiroth even catching on, and this greatly spiked the infamous warrior’s ire.

On the bloody warpath, Sephiroth tried escaping Cloud’s inquisitive gaze and pestering questions, brushing past the youth, when Cloud latched onto his wrist, just as he had so many years ago.

Stopped in his tracks like the world had ceased spinning, Sephiroth only felt his eyes flitting down to Cloud’s hand wrapped and coiled around his wrist. Though he begged his vagarish emeralds not to wander, in no time, they disobeyed his wishes, seeking out Cloud’s mako-infused eyes.

Gaia, he could wander into them and never be found, again. Time was lost as he gazed deeply into those blues, and Sephiroth felt himself smothered as he trembled, petrified to the spot.

Cloud innocently tilted his head, having the temerity to ask Sephiroth what he’d even been doing. That proved to be the wrong thing. Sephiroth only needed an excuse, and a silly outlet to unleash his putrid, vile rage.

Snarling, he flew into a frenzy, shaking Cloud off himself as he gave out one last warning for the youth to drop the subject and leave. Naturally, as he knew it, Cloud refused, and Sephiroth didn’t wish to argue. If Cloud was going to be troublesome and stubborn, then he would be given another alternative.

Unsheathing his weapon, Sephiroth tossed Cloud in the middle of battle, going under the guise of a surprise attack and sequence to better prepare the youth for a real-life attack.

And what a battle, it was.

Cloud was equally aggressive and determined to win, and he cut back on all the conversation as he dove at Sephiroth. In turn, Sephiroth met the challenge, though not as he would when engaged in mock fighting with Angeal or Genesis. Due to his dangerous levels of hate, especially with himself for his disgustingly filthy desires for Cloud, Sephiroth soon tried seeing Cloud as his enemy.

If he vilified and objectified Cloud as he had all his other enemies, perhaps he wouldn’t feel so guilty…

Sadly, the harder Sephiroth fought, the harder Cloud fought. For a moment, a foolish moment, as Sephiroth had been lost in the fray, it’d escaped his mind that Cloud was good at mimicking him.

Though Sephiroth wielded a two-handed blade, and though Cloud wielded a sword almost as clunky and large as Angeal’s Buster Sword, the temperamental teenager proved to be a ruthless, worthy opponent. He was clever with timing his ducking, dodging, and rolling. Sephiroth began driving the tip of his weapons into the floor, missing Cloud every chance he got. Speed and accuracy were lost in the pursuit of revenge.

Carelessly, this opened the General to many blows. Cloud hacked and slashed at his uniform, tearing it to shreds when Sephiroth wasn’t able to block his attacks on time. Cloud also seemed less inclined to telegraph his moves, making him rather unpredictable. It’d been proven when Sephiroth aimed an overhead attack, only for Cloud to have already charged and nearly stabbed him right in the stomach.

Overwhelmed with rage and his own embarrassment, Sephiroth knew he was going to lose. He didn’t want that; he couldn’t afford it, not when he remembered that the Shinra Company recorded any battle in the training room. At this rate, his own ineptitude would be made evident in the eyes of all who looked, and he would be stripped of his position.

Cursing himself for not having the decency to keep his desires in check and not be distracted, with no other choice left for himself, Sephiroth resorted to the only tactic he knew would end the fight and render himself the winner.

He had to cheat.

Retreating when Cloud tried getting him stuck in a deadly combination of attacks and sweeping slashes, Sephiroth hurriedly crouched, yanking out of his pockets fire materia. Buffing his blades with it, Sephiroth then raised his arms, fusing the blades together to form one long weapon. Thankfully, the weapon itself had been designed for this, alternating between dual wielding and single wielding.

Before Cloud was able to poke at him with his large blade, Sephiroth swiftly brought the sword down. It smashed roughly into the hardwood floor, snapping it all clean in many pieces. When the smoke and dust had cleared, Sephiroth’s eyes adjusted to the mess, and he snarled ferociously in regret.

Cloud had already skipped away, spinning swiftly to leap into the air and kick Sephiroth in his shoulders. It did well to send the taller teenager stumbling, but Sephiroth had more tricks up his sleeves.

Dashing at Cloud, he swiped with his left hand, using the dominance of that arm to slash perfectly into Cloud’s dark sweater. The youngster emitted a shout; the first cry of alarm Sephiroth had heard in some time.

It was music to his ears, and as he fed off it like a leach, Sephiroth again collected his blades into one long piece. Flying into a corner of the room, he made sure to create enough distance. It wasn’t meant for protecting himself, but rather to fool his enemy.

Blinded by anger, though still cautious, Cloud took measured steps, hanging his weapon at his side. Sephiroth held out his left arm, gripping the handle of his blade, and using his right hand to steady the length of it. Crouching, he targeted and locked his gazed onto Cloud’s form, ignoring how erratically the younger male zipped and zoomed about.

This trick was mere child’s play. Cloud was purposefully trying to throw him off-course, thinking he could get anywhere by flying around the place like a drunk fool. Sephiroth however remained cold, collected, calm, and well composed.

Observing Cloud as he ran around, raising his weapon above his head for a huge plunge attack, at the very last minute, just as Cloud had hooked his wide eyes onto Sephiroth’s sword, he made the fatal error of not checking Sephiroth’s body posture. Cloud tried to slide forth to dig his sword into Sephiroth’s back. Any random enemy wouldn’t have seen this coming, succumbing as a victim to the change in direction.

Under any other normal circumstance, this would’ve been a wise thing to do. The first rule and lesson Sephiroth learned was to always watch the enemy’s body and their weapon, for a true warrior moved as one unit with their sword. Unfortunately, for Cloud, Sephiroth wasn’t just any other random enemy. He’d counted on Cloud to fall for his old tactic, and the brazen moron did.

Anger channeling him forth, Cloud lunged, thinking he’d won. In a split second, Sephiroth pivoted with his left leg, turning and thrusting forward. The entire length of the weapon slid between Cloud’s right armpit, frightening the young man right out of his wits when flames burst into the air as a warning.

Screaming in terror, Cloud dropped his heavy blade, and as he went to pick it up, Sephiroth drew the weapon at his left side, still in his crouched position. Emitting a ferocious war cry, Sephiroth charged the attack with the fiery buff, not even allowing a second’s worth of a time window before he swiped from left to right high into the air.

The range was deadly and disastrous for Cloud. He’d just gotten up, with the large sweep of fire horizontally sliced through the air, ascending from Sephiroth’s sword as he cut through the cold air from his hip up to his right shoulder. An explosive sound went off as Cloud’s back knocked into the floor, and on the nick of time, he’d still proven to Sephiroth that he was capable of protecting and guarding himself.

Cloud had propped the width of the large sword up, using it as a shield to block out the fire damage while he lay flatly on his back. Eyes shut, he softly whimpered, sweat pooling from his brow and landing on his nose.

While he trembled, Sephiroth rose to his full height, wandering over to him. The floorboards groaned and creaked as they supported his weight, and as he’d taken his last step, the skilled swordsman glared down at Cloud, lowering his weapon to signal the end of his fight.

Without remorse in his voice to taint through and give way to his conflicting emotions reserved for Cloud, Sephiroth only informed his junior that if he dared to be so bold as to attempt another foolish move like this again in the future, Sephiroth would next time provide him with a death so terrifying that Cloud wouldn’t ever seek him out, again, not even in the afterlife.

Cloud may have lost this round, but something warned Sephiroth deeply in his gut like a hissing voice that the next time, he wouldn’t be so lucky.


End file.
